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is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city name comes from one of the major roadways through the area, Miami Gardens Drive. Since Key Biscayne was incorporated in 1991, there has been a movement in several unincorporated areas, also known as census-designated places (CDPs) throughout Miami-Dade County to incorporate as cities, often due to a perceived lack of attention or services from Miami-Dade County government. Residents in Miami-Dade county who lived on the Broward County line in the former CDPs of Andover, Bunche Park, Carol City, Lake Lucerne, Norwood, Opa-Locka North, and Scott Lake voted to incorporate as the city of Miami Gardens in 2003, although some of those CDPs were not entirely incorporated. The city was incorporated on May 13, 2003. In 2008, it was ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau's Estimates, the newly-created city had a population of 100,809; however, 2004 estimates were 105,414 people, and the most current 2005 estimates of the city government place the population at 106,566. Miami Gardens is the largest city in Florida that has a majority of black residents.
The city is home to the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins, both of whom play in Land Shark Stadium (formerly Dolphin Stadium) on land that was part of the Lake Lucerne CDP. Dolphin Stadium also hosts the annual Orange Bowl college football game, and from 2008 will be the home field for the University of Miami Hurricanes football team. Calder Race Course is also located in the city.
Around the 1970s many middle class African-American families began to move into Miami Gardens; they left areas of the City of Miami such as Liberty City and Overtown. In 2007 Mayor Shirley Gibson said that the city would no longer allow any low income housing developments; many residents blamed the developments for spreading crime and recreational drugs throughout the city. Around that time the city's tax revenues dropped to being the third lowest in Miami-Dade County.